Review by Booklist Review
Why would she ask for forgiveness? Alexandra is stunned to witness her beloved grandmother, Romy, apparently ask her husband to forgive her as she lay dying. But for what? The question spurs Alexandra into a journey to Shanghai to uncover the secrets of her family's past in this entrancing novel. Manning was inspired to write The Song of the Jade Lily after spotting a Star of David in the city's Hongkou District, learning that the city took in more than 20,000 refugees during WWII. In the novel, that number includes young Romy, whose family flees Austria after one of her brothers is shot in the immediate aftermath of Kristallnacht. They find refuge in Shanghai, able to live in comfort for a time until the realities of war come crashing in. But even amid the fear and privation, there is friendship and romance. Alexandra, a commodities trader reeling from a recent breakup, was raised by Romy and her grandfather, her mother's adoptive parents, after her own parents were killed in a car crash. But her mother's true origins are a mystery, and when Alexandra returns to Shanghai, she learns the full repercussions of Romy's life there during the war. Manning renders Shanghai as a riot of flavors, sights, and sounds, its elegance clashing against gritty poverty in this exquisite window into the past.--Bridget Thoreson Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Australian author Manning makes her American debut with this superb take on a lesser known aspect of WWII: some European Jews, fleeing from the Nazis, received asylum in Japanese-occupied Shanghai after being denied it elsewhere. Set during WWII and the present day, the dual narrators Romy and her granddaughter, commodities trader Alexandra, find their narratives blended when a family secret is revealed. In 1939, after a deadly pogrom in Vienna, Romy, 12, and her parents arrive in Shanghai, where they befriend the Ho family; beautiful singer Li Ho and brilliant Romy become inseparable. Manning embellishes their coming-of-age story with Shanghai's culture (street vendors, rickshaws, traditional Chinese medicine); hardships (crowded housing, food deprivation); and political retribution against the Ho family. Romy and Li share a powerful, life-changing experience that reaches into future generations. In 2016, with Romy settled in Melbourne, Alexandra leaves London after a breakup to be with her grandparents; after her grandfather dies, she goes to Shanghai for a new job and begins researching her adopted mother's murky ancestry. After a serendipitous encounter with a shop owner and Romy's stunning revelations, Alexandra pieces together her family history. With breadth and intelligence, this exquisite novel portrays a resilient community and a secret kept to protect another. (May)
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